


In The Dark of Night

by humans_are_such_beautiful_creatures



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Batman never joined the Justice League, Canon-Typical Violence, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dick Grayson is a Good Brother, Genius Tim Drake, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason is doing his best, Protective Bruce Wayne, The Justice League is confused, Tim Drake is Red Robin, protective batfam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24460021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humans_are_such_beautiful_creatures/pseuds/humans_are_such_beautiful_creatures
Summary: In a world where Batman never joined The Justice League, he and the rest of the Batfamily are nothing more than rumors and whispers in the night. Crime in Gotham has gotten so bad that the Justice League is willing to team up with this whisper. They weren't prepared for what they find in Gotham.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 310





	1. Clark

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work I've ever done, and I'm not sure how it's going to go. Crossing my fingers!

Superman didn’t like being in Gotham. The streets were dirty, crime was rampant, and the sun never shined. No, Superman much preferred Metropolis, where sirens weren’t constantly background noise, singing throughout the streets.  
But Superman didn’t really have a choice in the matter. The League had heard rumors of an alleged vigilante in Gotham, and since Gotham was so crime-ridden, they would jump at the chance to get any foothold in the city. Even if that meant that they joined forces with a previously unknown crimefighter, who may or may not have the different morals than the League.  
Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, and Superman all walked together in the back alleys of Gotham, hoping to catch a glimpse at the Batman. Clark himself knew that it was unlikely that they would find him. Even the citizens of Gotham seemed skeptical of his existence.  
“I think this is a waste of time,” Oliver said, not for the first time. Diana just gave him a look that said that she didn’t care in the least that he thought their night would be better spent elsewhere.  
Just as Clark was about to suggest they retire for the night, a dark figure dropped from a rooftop. The figure straightened out into a humanoid shape, over six feet tall. It might have even been taller than Clark. The man, because upon closer inspection, it was definitely a man and not a man-shaped monster, glided towards the 3 heroes who were stunned from his sudden arrival.  
Who Superman presumed to be The Batman spoke. “Why are you here?” His voice was low and gruff, betraying no emotion.  
Diana cleared her breath. “You must be Batman.” She subtly gripped her lasso tighter in her grip.  
Batman nodded. “Why are you here?” he repeated.  
This time, it was Green Arrow that spoke. “We came to recruit you for the Justice League!” the man gave the caped man an easy grin. “What do you day we all go to HQ and have a chat about it?”  
“No,” this time, annoyance seeped into his voice. “I want nothing to do with it. I work best on my own.”  
A scoff from behind them sent the 3 veteran superheroes spinning around to find another vigilante behind them. Clark assumed he was a vigilante anyway, because he was wearing black spandex, leaving little to the imagination. He had blue finger stipes that led up to a V on his chest. Black hair, loose and wavy hung down around his head.  
“How did you sneak up behind us?” the words spilled from Superman’s mouth unwillingly. The man, younger than Batman, grinned. It was a beautiful thing, that smile. It was painful in its intensity.  
The young man floated gracefully over to the group of vigilantes, betraying his achingly beautiful movements. This man was Walking. Breathing. Sex.  
He practically draped himself over Clark and purred out “Hello. You must be Superman.” His eyes cut to the other two, and Clark say an intelligence there he hadn’t seen before. “Wonder Woman and Green Arrow too.” His grin morphed into a smirk, and if Clark were a lesser man, he would have begged to be able to worship him.  
“And who are you?” Oliver asked, suspicious. Clark strained to pull himself together. Just because the man was oozing charm didn’t mean that Clark could lose his cool.  
Batman growled, causing everyone to turn back to him. “Nightwing. What are you doing here?” Nightwing seemed to pout.  
“C’mon, B. I want in on the fun.” With that, Nightwing slinked off Superman and over to Batman. “Besides, I think you should take their offer. Working with the League is better than working against them.” Nightwing pointed out.  
Batman didn’t look fazed. “Don’t you have a drug deal to stop?” he asked.  
“No, I got Red Robin to cover me. When I heard they were coming into town I wanted to see them, so I got him to cover me.”  
Diana scoffed. “I thought you worked better alone?” she asked scornfully.  
Nightwing shrugged. “He always says that. I think it’s because he’s embarrassed about just how many of us there are.” With that he leaned his arm on Batman’s shoulder.  
Batman shook his head, a much more human act than anything previous. “Get out of Gotham. And stay out. If you make any more problems in my city, I’ll be forced to drive you out myself.”  
From behind Batman and Nightwing, another man walked out of the shadows. This man had a bright red helmet on his head and wore a leather jacket. “Your egos bigger than usual old man. This aint just your city.” He had the unmistakable accent of the Gotham streets. Unlike the other men, he had a holster and gun. Clark assumed he knew how to use it.  
Nightwing grinned, much less violently beautiful and more joyful. “Hood! What are you doing here?”  
Diana and Oliver flinched alongside Clark. They had heard more than just rumors about this one. He was a murderer. An antihero who shoots and kills people instead of taking them to justice. Apparently, he worked with Batman, and Batman’s ally, Nightwing. That told Clark all he needed to know about these men. They worked with a known murderer, so they were to be treated like murderers as well.  
He turned to Diana, the more reasonable between her and Oliver. “This was a mistake. We need to go.” She nodded in agreement.  
“Good,” Batman responded, “and make sure you don’t come back.” Red Hood drew his gun, and Nightwing pulled his escrima sticks off his back. Oliver drew his bow.  
“Hey, we just came here to make a sales pitch, no need to get violent.” Oliver said, trying to defuse the situation.  
“Sorry,” Nightwing smiled apologetically to them, “but I think it’s time for you to go. I’ve been outvoted.”


	2. Bruce

Bruce Wayne worked alone, thank you very much. He definitely didn’t have multiple other heroes working alongside him, that would defeat the purpose of working alone. So he may have had a robin, then another, and then a few more. He only has ever had one at a time, so that is one partner at most. And if other vigilantes from Gotham joined him in fighting crime, who was he to refuse. Just because he has been known to associate with many others, most of whom have bat or bird monikers, doesn’t mean he has a huge group of crime-fighters who work with him.  
At least, that’s what Batman wants to convince all of Gotham. And preferably the rest of the world. If it was assumed that Batman didn’t play well with others, it would keep pests like The Justice League from knocking on his doorstep.  
But Bruce did work with a lot of others, a testament to the fact that he never met an orphan he couldn’t adopt. First was Dick, Bruce’s first son. Then Jason, followed by Tim. Cass came into his life and he gained Damian the most recently. He was grateful for them all, and cherished his children.  
But sometimes.  
Sometimes having to deal with so many children, especially while out in costume, was too difficult, even for Batman. Like that night, for example. Bruce could handle many things. What he couldn’t handle was his oldest son flirting with a Kriptonian superhero. He had to draw the line somewhere. And Dick, with his incredible acrobatic skills, vaulted himself way over that line.  
“Look Dick, chum, I understand that you’re an adult, I do. But what I can’t understand is why you insisted on draping yourself across Superman like a puppy.” Bruce was giving out his first lecture of the night, but not his last.  
Dick pouted. “But Bruuuuce,” Dick said, leaning back in his chair in the Batcave.  
Bruce cut him off before he could continue with whatever he was going to say. “Dick, there is a certain level of professionalism that you must maintain when going out into the field.” Bruce’s parental disappointment unwillingly seeped into his voice.  
Dick huffed, “I can’t help it that Superman is a sucker for a pretty face. What did you want me to do?”  
Bruce felt a headache coming on and pressed his thumb and pointer finger against his nose. “How about try not seducing aliens?”  
But even as he said it, he knew he would get nowhere. Dick liked the dark, sensual aura he gave off as Nightwing too much to ever give it up. And honestly Bruce was getting tired of trying to explain to his son that it made him uncomfortable without saying out loud that he found it uncomfortable. So instead he’d turn to other problems he might actually be able to handle.  
“And you,” Bruce said, whirling around to look at Jason, who was cleaning his gun at a workbench, “you can’t just draw your weapon like that, what would you have done if you tried to shoot Superman? Those bullets are made of rubber, not Kryptonite.”  
Jason leveled a look of childish petulance at Bruce. “C’mon B, you were the one that said they had to leave, I was only showing them we meant business.”  
Bruce sighed and rubbed his face. I’m getting to old for this, he thought to himself. “Next time, don’t draw your weapon until I give you to signal, do you understand?” Explaining to his children why they have to listen to him w was like trying to corral cats. They weren’t going to do something unless they wanted to. And they definitely wouldn’t do something because someone else asked them.  
“As far as I can tell, me ‘n Dicky here are the only reason that those League guys are gone. Maybe instead of not drawing my weapon, you should get me some Kryptonite bullets.” Jason said, and Bruce was surprised at how reasonable his trigger-happy son sounded in that moment.  
“I’ll think it over,” Bruce offered his second son, and after said son nodded in affirmative, he went back to cleaning his gun.  
He turned to the large computer to his left, and more specifically to the teenaged vigilante sipping coffee in front of it.  
“Tim,” Bruce said quietly, like he was trying not to spook a wild animal, “when was the last time you slept?” Because even though the kid always had bags under his eyes, tonight his bags had bags, and he was on his fourth cup of coffee.  
Tim turned his bloodshot eyes to Bruce, “What’s today?” he asked. His voice was hoarse, and it looked like he was having a hard time focusing on any specific purpose.  
“Thursday,” Damian responded, sitting somewhere up in the rafters. Thankfully, Damian had gotten over the whole trying-to-kill-Tim-for-being-competition thing, and now the two just bickered each other to death instead.  
Tim nodded thoughtfully. “four, maybe five days,” he said, as he took a drag from his coffee.   
Bruce gave him The Look, and Tim rolled his eyes and made his way upstairs. Bruce wasn’t kidding himself, he knew Tim would get approximately zero hours of sleep, but there was only so much that he could do about it. After having kids, Bruce had learned how to pick his battles.  
Once Tim was out of the Cave, Bruce turned to Cass, who was sitting a few feet away on the floor. Up until then, she had been content to listen to the chaos around her in silence.  
“How was patrol tonight?” Bruce asked her. His voice was gruff, but it softened the way it always did when he spoke to her.  
She signed to him, stopped a robbery on 5th. A mugging on Carver St.  
Bruce nodded. It had been an uneventful night, he knew from the report he got from Tim and Damien from earlier in the night.  
Dick spoke up then. “I think you should join the Justice League. I know you don’t want to but honestly, they need your help.”  
Surprisingly, Jason nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, those guys could use the help. Besides, they might even be able to help you.” Jason pointed out.  
Bruce gave them both an unimpressed look. Then he sighed. He was never going to hear the end of this discussion unless he just did it. Besides, he figured that they would be more valuable as allies than enemies.


End file.
